Larceny of a watch. Sarah Jane Blacklock was indicted for having stolen a watch, the property of Donald McLaren; also with having received the same, knowing it to have been stolen. Prisoner was undefended.

The Crown Prosecutor stated the case: the Prisoner had been in company of the prosecutor (Donald McLaran) on the 27th May, and the prosecutor missed his watch on the following morning. Prisoner had sold the watch to a Chinaman for a box valued 23s. and 3s. cash, and it would be for the prisoner to show that she became honestly possessed of it. He called witnesses in support of the charge.

Constable Cunningham went with Senior Constable Roe and the prisoner to the house of Mrs. Yung, and asked Tommy Yung, a Chinaman, how he became possessed of a watch which was then in his (witness') possession. Tommy Yung said he gave prisoner a box worth 25s and 3s cash for it; prisoner began to cry, and said, "OK, this is what being in bad company brings one to"; she said Mrs. Moran gave her the watch; I told her the name of the owner, D. McLaren; she said ”he and another young man came to my house; Mrs. Moran was there at the time, the watch was given to me, I did not steal it."

Tommy Yung deposed that prisoner came to his shop to buy fruit on Saturday night, a fortnight ago; she asked the price of some apples; she asked him to buy a watch; he said, "No.”; asked where did the watch come from? She said, “never mind, that's my husband's"; he said, “you get paper" (receipt); he said, “me frightened to buy watch”; she said, "never mind, it's my husband's, you got plenty money; you give me that box and three shillings more - which he did; he identified the watch, "the inside was broke"; he paid one pound to mend it to watchmaker; identified it by several marks; can swear to the watch and to the prisoner who gave it to him.

In answer to prisoner, witness said, "No one else offer me that watch."

Donald McLaren deposed: I was in Dalby from May 24th to 27th or 28th, and was then pretty well on; I had a watch, l saw it last on May 24 - identified the watch - had it nearly two years; I paid ten guineas for it; never gave it to anyone nor authorised anyone to take it.

In answer to prisoner, witness said, "I was not in your house."

By His Honor: I was drunk all the time. (His Honor remarked - "You're not much better now.") Cannot say whether I lost the watch; I was never in prisoner's house; I missed the watch at Hallinan’s public-house*; I might have been five yards off prisoner's house; I was holding two horses, McLelland’s and my own; was never in prisoner's company.

E. H. Rook deposed: I saw prisoner at my house** on Saturday night; she showed me a silver lever watch and asked me to buy it, it belonged to her husband, who had come off the line, sick, and she wanted to buy medicine or grog. (His Honor observed, "It's all the same.") I refused and she went away; it was about 11:30.

By Prisoner: You might have asked me to lend you a pound on the watch.

Moses Harris, jeweller, deposed: I lately repaired this watch for Tommy Yung; I sold a similar watch to D. McLaren, about 2 years ago.

Constable Cunningham, in reply to a question asked by His Honor, said: I know Mrs. Moran, who has lately been convicted of stealing some clothes.

By Prisoner: The clothes and the watch were all stolen at the same time.

His Honor summed up: The watch had been found in prisoner's possession, and it was for her to show how she became possessed of it; she said she had received it from Mrs. Moran, and the Crown had not called this person to refute her statement; it would not be safe, to convict of stealing on those grounds; did she become possessed of it, knowing it to be stolen? The prosecutor admits that he was drunk, all the time, and cannot say that he lost it, and men sometimes do things when in such a condition that they would not do if sober; it would not be safe on such evidence to convict her of stealing.

The jury retired, and in a few minutes returned with a verdict of “Not guilty."

* Tattersall Hotel - again.​** Soverign Hotel

Q & A: Questions and (possible) Answers:​Q1.Why was Mrs Moran not present at the trial and where was she?​A1.Mrs Moran was at the time in Toowoomba gaol, serving a 1 month sentence for stealing offences.

Q2. Who was Sarah Blacklock?A2. Sarah (Jane or Ann) Blacklock appears to have been the wife of Thomas Blacklock, who had recently spent a year in Roma prison for horse stealing at Taroom in 1874. Perhaps he had been arrested by none other than Constable Thomas Skelly of Injune police? It was a small world around these parts in 1874. There was a prominent jockey by the name of Blacklock riding at Dalby in 1877.

​Q3. Why was Donald McLaran in town between 24 and 27 (or 28) May 1877?

​A3. The Caledonian Sports were held at the show "yards" on Thursday 24 May 77, St Andrew's Day and Queen Victoria's 58th birthday.

There were many and varied events, from dancing to heavy stone tossing. Some features of the day were:

- the day commenced with a procession headed by 2 pipers from the town hall to the railway station, to welcome an expected multitude of contestants and visitors from Toowoomba. Sadly, very few visitors alighted from the train .... so they marched back to the town hall and on to the show grounds.- the tossing of the caber could not proceed until "three portions were cut off to shortened it" - perhaps cabers in Scotland were made of lighter softwood?- everyone was declared a winner in the lunch event which featured "an unbounded supply of liquid comforts" and, surprisingly, "tea for temperate drinkers."- Michael Lynch had a very successful sports day. Perhaps he did not partake in the fruitless march to the station or the "liquid comforts"?- a well-attended ballwas held that night at the School of Arts. The Post Office Hotel provided "a supper which the most fastidious could scarcely resist, so solid, so plentiful, so tasteful in design, and appetising.​" Revelry continued long after midnight.

None of the McLaran clan featured amongst the winners, but it appears that at least 1 clan member celebrated long and hard into the weekend.

Q4. Who was E.H. Rook?A4. Ernest Henry Rook (1854 - 1898) was "one of nature's gentlemen". He was proprietor of the Sovereign Hotel in 1877 and was declared insolvent in 1881. He eventually became District Court Bailiff and assistant court clerk in the Lands Department. He passed away due to asthma aged 44, leaving his second wife and 5 children by his first wife to mourn their loss.

Q5. Who are the Yungs?A5. The Yungs are mentioned in The Dalby Herald as keepers of a boarding house and a shop. Various members of the family gain mention as "fences" for stolen property.

Malcolm McLaran's musical (Auld Lang Syne) toby jug.

Q6. Who was Donald's drinking mate, McLellan?A5. He may have been William McLellan, who had selected land several miles north of Donald's selection, Frogmore.

Q7. Would Clara Eversden, living at the time at Tartha, have heard about this incident and would she have approved of Donald's conduct?A7. She married Donald about 18 months later. It is unlikely that the incident would have passed her ken. If she had read the court report she may have considered his behaviour as normal for men of that era, or discounted it in favour of the potential wealth marriage offered. But this event, with hindsight 140 years later, could be considered a portent of what was to come at the turn of the century ......

Q8. Conclusions?A8. Donald McLaran was almost 44 and still single. His watch was probably misplaced Friday 25 May as it was in Blacklock's possession on Saturday night.

​The Caledonian Sports day presented a welcome relief to Donald's monotonous, monk-like (?) and lonely life at Frogmore and a chance to celebrate his Scottish heritage with compatriots. We can't blame him for letting his hair down. But perhaps he should have left his fancy watch at home? Or could it be that Donald paid for services rendered with a flash watch in desperate need of repairs, and later changed his mind?

Judge Paul saw the humour in the case and added a touch of his own. ​​